Freaky Resurrection
by ShihodoTennyo
Summary: It starts with a silly bickering but the ever so generous Planet has taken it too far. Splendidly blessed with a second chance, he is now a 'she' and she is now a 'he'. To change back? The usual getting along thingy. AerSeph.
1. Revenge is sweet

Final Fantasy VII © Square-Enix

Standard Disclaimer Applies

**Freaky Resurrection**

**Chapter 1 – Revenge is sweet**

Aeris and Sephiroth. Sephiroth and Aeris. Both were incredibly beautiful. Both possessed immense mystical power. Both were the last of their kinds. Both had the very same spiked up bangs of doom™. And both were as dead as an overdrugged goldfish on a sizzling pan.

However, despite the stunning alikeness, they were like opposite poles of a magnet – positive and negative. For instance, Aeris was female, Sephiroth was male. Aeris was good and nice and all but Sephiroth was bad and evil and drop-dead sexy...wait, that's not the point. Oh well, anyway, you get the picture.

Yet comparing them to a magnet wasn't quite exact. For whether they would be intimately drawn together was still a question to further investigate. However, things weren't going as smoothly as people out there might thought in the lifestream.

Aeris Gainsborough was fuming. Yes, Aeris. Fuming. Two words that usually wouldn't go in one sentence but indeed she was. She had been in a good mood earlier while she, in her usual pink dress, was picking pink flowers in this beautiful garden of the Promised Land when one certain silver haired, sexy assed-devil, with all his high and mighty gracefulness, dropped in and insulted the pinkness.

What was so wrong if she happened to love pink? It was, after all, a lovely color. Even Cloud once told her that.

And as if reading her mind, the devil smirked, of course, evilly. "I've always known Strife has a tendency to swing that way."

"He does not!" She protested firmly, standing her ground with hands on her hips and stamping her foot once. "If there's anyone I know personally that would happen to be gay, it surely is you."

"Personally?" One silver brow arched up. "I didn't think we know each other _that_ well despite me _impaling_ you with my sword once." Then as an after thought, he smoothly added. "I wouldn't mind doing it again, though."

Aeris went very red in the face at the double-meaning and before she knew it, words spouted from her lips. "You just impaled me because you were jealous, admit that!"

She at first grinned at what seemed to be a good come back but soon realized her fatal mistake. Her killer now had a smug smirk on his lips despite her just calling him gay…not that the insult was new to him anyway.

The flower girl blushed even redder, feeling her cheeks grow hot as she felt the silver haired-man's glowing eyes on her. Now, what she had said, it sounded even dirtier than what he firstly had.

Sephiroth's intense gaze on her didn't help either.

"What're you looking at, you jerk!"

The insult bounced off Sephiroth like it was nothing. The ex-general just looked amused, apparently he was enjoying himself watching her suffer. He grabbed her slim wrist, pulling her closer to him and wrapped one strong arm around her waist, chuckling softly as he thought the girl couldn't turn even redder.

"And they call you a sweet little flower girl." The silver haired-man leant in, whispering in her ear.

Aeris bit her lips and decided to give the ex-general a good stamp on his feet. Too bad, the man was too quick. He abruptly let go of her and stepped back just in time, so that Aeris' brown boot thump the ground instead.

"Oh no…" Her eyes widened in horror when she realized she had stepped on the pink lovely flowers. It was brutally crushed under her own foot…poor pink little flower.

Silence befell the place for a while saved for the quiet chuckle from Sephiroth as Aeris stood trembling. Then…finally…

She managed to cry out a single tear.

"You're so mean! Look at what you've done. My flower, my poor pretty little flower." She even managed a fake sniff and sob.

What was better weapon than a woman's tears, heh.

"Hn. Weak women, they're easily moved by emotions."

Wrong target, dear Aeris.

The brunette stopped faking crying and looked up at him with a malicious glare. If look could kill…meh, they were already dead.

"Some men are just too dumb to feel any emotion. Suit yourself you didn't get a girlfriend."

Sephiroth cocked his head, tugging a silver strand behind his ear. "Ooh, so what are you going to do? Drown me with the pinkness?"

The ever-so-sweet flower girl was losing her usually cheery temper. She looked like she was about to bite. Fortunately, the Planet saved the day just in time.

**Calm down, my son and daughter. I did not bring you here for a quarrel. **

"But Planet, he…" Aeris was about to protest but the Planet interrupted.

**I was thinking of giving you a second chance. **

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows questioningly, not believing what he had just heard. "You're saying _we _are going to live again?"

**Yes, I really mean it. But…you two do not seem to get along that well. **

Aeris crossed her arms and pouted. "It's not my fault."

Sephiroth apparently wanted to go back to the living world again since he stayed quiet, focusing on what the Planet would say. He had a bad feeling it wouldn't be as nice and smooth as he wished it to be. He was the one trying to destroy it with a giant meteor anyway - Jenova's influence or not.

Sensing what was on the silver haired-man's mind, the Planet then went on.

**You can go back. Both of you. But under one condition. **

"What is it, Planet?" Aeris asked. She too was eager to be alive again. Who wouldn't?

**The usual cliché. **It said. **You have to get along. **

"Oh." Was all Aeris said.

"I'm sick of that cliché." Besides her, she heard Sephiroth mutter under his breath.

**Can't help that. But I'm going to make sure you really satisfy the condition. **

"How?" Asked the Cetra, blinking.

**You'll see. **

Despite it being just a voice, they know it was smiling…more of laughing, which Sephiroth was sure meant nothing good. He just knew it. But before he could do anything (not that he could do much since he was already dead) the sight of the Promised Land faded from his sight and the next thing he knew was…

He was drowning. In green, not pink, thankfully. The fluid green substance around him stung his skin and he almost choked as it flowed into his mouth, tasting its familiar taste on the tip of his tongue. He knew what it was.

Mako. Obviously, he was in the lifestream.

Alive.

He looked left and right for the Cetra girl. Everything was green, so he didn't see anything clearly even with his Mako-enhanced eyes and he had to squint. There, not so far away from him, he could make out the girl's long brown hair and her not-so-hard-to-miss pink dress.

Certainly, the shock might frighten her, being a weak little girl she was and he was sure she wasn't used to bathing in intense concentration of Mako like him. It sure must be painful – even those of the first class SOLDIER barely stood it.

Sighing inwardly, he swam toward the struggling Cetra.

And indeed Aeris was struggling. She had heard about Mako treatment from her ex-boyfriend before and had quite a picture of how it would feel like; however, experiencing it for real was completely different, for it was more painful than anything she had physically felt in her previous life, including Sephiroth's Masamune in her stomach.

She felt like screaming but couldn't since the green liquid would get into her mouth and she was sure it wouldn't taste so nice, so when help arrived in the form of a blur of black and silver, she gladly received it without a protest. Grabbing her companion's hand, she let him drag her toward the upper surface where she could make out a glimpse of brilliant daylight.

**(x)**

After a while, they finally broke the green surface, breathing in a deep air to bless their poor lungs since they weren't blitzball players that could stay in water for like eternity. Soaking from head to toe, they teetered up the shore in exhaustion. Sephiroth didn't know why his armors felt so heavy all of a sudden. Not to mention his clothes that seemed as if they had doubled in size over a haste swimming. He frowned. It wasn't like the mini spell could affect him could it?

His short train of thought was interrupted with a sharp, startling gasp from behind him. Feeling something nagging at the back of his mind, giving him nerves, Sephiroth slowly turned…and became dumbstruck.

There, before him, was undoubtedly Aeris, for there was no way he could have mistaken the braided brown hair, beautiful emerald eyes and the uber pinkness that was her…only it wasn't a 'her' he was staring at.

**(x)**

There was no word in Barret's or even Cid's tongue that would describe the feeling Aeris was feeling at the moment. She was shell-shocked! Utterly shocked! She did have a feeling that 'something' the Planet was talking about wouldn't be so nice since it wanted to convince them they were to get along but never had she expected _this_!

Her eyes were wide like saucer as she looked at her own body. It was no more a curvy, pliant form of a woman but instead strong and firm muscles of a man.

She was now a 'he'.

Still, 'he' was thankful, he wasn't _that _muscular. The memory of Dio and his spandex still gave him creeps for some obvious reasons.

It was then when he landed his eyes on his companion that another jolt of shock jabbed him right at his sanity even though he had already suspected it.

Sephiroth was no longer a 'he'.

His companion now stood a foot, yes, a foot, lower than him with 'her' long silvery hair almost sweeping the ground from the big loss of height. Her face was rounder and now possessed a softer quality only a female had. Her luminous green eyes were bigger albeit still sharp and had that strange glow from former Mako enhancement.

And her pale complexion, now losing all the trace of masculinity, made her look so fragile and small…and a little bit weird in her old attire that looked like a big heap of black leather.

For a big moment, all Aeris could do was only staring. Then, finally, his lips broke into a grin. "Hehe." Which turned into a giggle. Yes, the usual giggling. "Ehehehehehee."

"What's so funny?" The silver haired-now-girl snapped, not at all finding the situation as amusing.

"Look, Sephy, you insulted us women and now you're one of us. Ehehehe."

Sephiroth crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes. "Do I have to remind you that you're no longer a woman?"

Aeris stopped giggling. He seemed to be thinking for one brief moment, and then hopped toward the shore. Looking at his reflection in the water, he could see a face that was no longer the Aeris Gainsborough he had known all his previous life. Still, this face he saw bore some similarities that reminded him of the flower girl.

His big green eyes had become narrower. He still had the same delicate nose and lips but his face was a little more sharp and angular. His hair was still long and in braid, though.

"Wow, I am hot. If I were still a girl, I would want to date me." He said eventually, earning a look that clearly said 'you're nuts' from the silver haired-girl.

"Aww. Come on, Sephy, it isn't that bad." He said, turning back to the frowning girl. "Just come here and take a look. You're quite pretty."

Sephiroth glared a dead glare that would scare even the finest first class SOLDIER to break down like a cry baby wanting to see his long-lost momma. "Do I again have to remind you of the problem we're having?"

Aeris blinked. "That I'm now bigger and taller and stronger than you?"

"That's not the point! I refuse to be a girl for the rest of my life!"

_Why the hell can she be so calm? Or is it really just all air in her head? Argh! Annoying Cetra. _

"Well," Aeris shrugged and smiled sweetly. "Since it bothers you that much we'll have to try to get along."

Sephiroth groaned and muttered under her breath. "I should have stayed dead."

Alas, Aeris heard her. "It's up to you, Sephy. I can enjoy this while it lasts." His smile widened into a grin.

_Ah, revenge is sweet, thanks Planet!_

"Enjoy being a man in a pink dress." Said Sephiroth sourly. "You're the gayest man I've ever seen."

Aeris blinked as the girl grabbed her enormous sword, which happened to just be there, and began walking away…which happened to be a difficult task since her clothes were too big for her.

"Where are you going?" Aeris asked, watching the girl struggle with the trench coat.

"Elsewhere." Sephiroth replied coldly, not even turning to look at the brunette.

"…"

"…"

"…Do I have to remind you that your chest is fairly exposed, Sephy?"

**To be continued…**


	2. Nothing I've never

Final Fantasy VII © Square-Enix

Standard Disclaimer Applies

**Freaky Resurrection**

**Chapter 2 – Nothing I've never **

"I refuse." A certain silver haired girl said through gritted teeth – her voice dripped to the brim with acidic poison, making it sound like a sinister hiss as she glared disdainfully at Aeris' uber pink dress of ultimate doom. "There's no way I'm wearing _that_!"

"Stop acting like a baby and be reasonable, Sephy." Aeris chided like a mother with both hands on his hips. Too bad it didn't make him look so motherly at the moment. Just…well, gay. "You know we can't move on like this."

"…" Cat-like jade eyes narrowed slightly. Nevertheless, seeing that the brooding girl had yet to say anything, Aeris faked a deliberate sigh and dared himself to go on.

"If you want to wear that bondage gear and show your_ additional proportions_ around just for the sake of being molested by whoever uses to be the same gender as you, then go ahead. There's actually no problem with me since I already know you were gay." He said with a charming smile plastered on his face though in fact he was biting the inside of his mouth and tried to stop himself from wincing at the mental image. Urgh. He didn't need _that_ disturbing image right now.

Allowing himself to shudder a little at his own glorious imagination, he could see that his tactic did work. The girl's big bright eyes widened visibly as the same unwanted mental image entered her inner vision. How good it worked, Aeris could just see from what could unmistakably be called an 'impressive flinch'. And for a flashing moment he was sure he heard the girl once a man called the Great Sephiroth make a sound very close to a kicked kitty. Yes, a _kitty_.

The silver haired-girl bit her lips, curling them into a very thin straight line before voicing her great defeat that would bring to her the worst humiliation in hesitation.

"…But it's pink."

**(x)**

"Turn around."

"What?"

"I said turn around."

Piercing cat-like eyes stared at him as if he was out of his mind – annoyance clearly showing behind the green depth. "Why do I have to do that? It's not like it's anything I've never seen before." She was used to seeing men dress and undress often in those army days. No pun intended. "Just strip and give me the damned clothes."

Aeris refrained the urge to shriek at her and resorted to hitting the ex-general with his Princess Guard. He didn't have much luck, though. Because it seemed Sephiroth hadn't lost her former agility at all. She was even faster now. Or wait…

Thump.

Maybe she wasn't.

It appeared that…in her act to avoid being hit with a staff by an overly upset six feet braided male, she happened to trip on her own badass trench coat…and fell. Not so gracefully. Say, the extremely loose leather pants just slid off her delicate hips.

Aeris' eyes almost popped out of their sockets at the last sight he wanted revealed before his eyes. And although it was nothing he had never seen before, he couldn't help feeling the situation very embarrassing. Aeris blushed.

"Umm…I didn't know you go commando under those pants."

**(x)**

Humiliated. She couldn't feel more humiliated. This must be a dream No. It was a nightmare! And she would eventually wake up being very dead and very male in the Promised Land with a pink clad flower girl there for him to torture. But…how could a dead person wake up? Death meant eternal sleeping and sleeping meant more dreams, more nightmares, right? So if she just woke up, it would still be this nightmare over and over again, which only meant one thing.

This was reality. Gah!

Sephiroth felt like impaling herself with the Masamune but reconsidered it as it would bring her to being dead again and the nightmare would start over. There was no way she could escape it. This must be the punishment of her sins. Maybe she should shut herself away in a coffin somewhere in a deserted mansion so that she wouldn't face more humiliation in this cruel world. Away from everything. Yeah, the thought seemed very tempting at the moment.

…Do you think that just sounds too familiar?

Well, anyway, the coffin and the mansion were nowhere to be found right now, so poor, miserable Sephiroth had to tolerate it with the pink dress she was hatefully wearing while Aeris seemed to be a little bit too happy with his new attire. He refused to go commando and persisted to keep his old strawberry-pink panty on, though.

"I feel sexy, oh-so sexy!" He exclaimed, examining himself, twirling this way and that, sending the cape flying. "I'm too sexy for my old dress. Too sexy…" He started singing and dancing around.

"Will you shut up!" Sephiroth gritted her teeth, for she very much thought that the Cetra's stupid dance was tainting the sacredness of her old clothes and if the deal wasn't to get along with the Cetra, she would have impaled him again with her sword. Yes, she could still do that even now that she was a girl.

Aeris raised his eyebrows at the silver haired-girl and reached for the Masamune in Sephiroth's tight grip. Certainly, this sexy attire needed that sword to complete its sexiness. Just when his long fingers was about to touch it, Sephiroth immediately yanked it away out of his reach, glaring maliciously at him as she caressed the ring, I mean, the sword possessively since it was now the _only_ sword she had.

"Masamune. Is. Mine!" She growled, baring her fangs.

Aeris stared at her, blinked and then shrugged. "Alright. But I was just kidding, you know."

**(x)**

"So where are we going?" Aeris asked, finally breaking the silence as he followed the now-pink-clad girl, who had been very quiet for the past fifteen minutes, deeper and deeper into the apparently deep dark forest.

Silence.

Sephiroth didn't answer.

Aeris frowned a little and opened his mouth yet before any sound could escape it, the silver haired-girl spoke up, voice stern. "Prepare yourself. It's coming."

"It?" Aeris' question didn't need Sephiroth's answer since the gigantic creature ambushing them from behind those large trees, crashing them down in the process was the answer in itself.

Aeris' green eyes widened. He gasped. "How come there's a Black Dragon in a forest! This fic makes no sense!"

It never does, dear Aeris. Now let us continue.

Sephiroth blocked the beast's attack with Masamune while shoving Aeris out of its attacking range. The dragon's huge claws clashed with the magnificent blade in a flash, causing a noise unhealthy to sensitive ears. Then it was the battle of pure strength. Normally, Sephiroth would have won no problem being the legendary SOLDIER and all. However, with all the taut, masculine muscles gone, it wasn't a big surprise she was losing.

Hey, she might be stronger than usual females, being formerly enhanced with Mako and all, but battling in sheer brute strength against a big bad hungry-as-hell dragon was completely another story.

The Black Dragon roared in triumph as it succeeded in pushing the soon-to-be its meal back. It swept its powerful tail toward the pink meaning for the kill but Sephiroth saw it coming. Using her new-found improving agility, she flipped to the side, letting the dragon's tail collide and down the old tree behind.

She might not have the brute strength she used to have but she didn't lose her touch on her sword skill. The Great Sephiroth wasn't a war hero with just his inhuman brute strength alone.

Tightening her grip on Masamune, she raised it up to her eye-level – her favorite pose. A smirk identical to her male self formed on her lips. This was a little more challenging. "Come on."

The Black Dragon stomp its foot in frustration, wanting to have its first meal in past three days fast. It cast Dragon Force on itself to boost its physical and magical strength…

Only to be dispelled.

"Guess you need a hand?" asked a deep voice, apparently belonging to a certain braided man in sexy black leather. His beautiful green eyes sparkled with amusement as his lips curved up into an all-too-familiar smile.

Sephiroth raised one elegant silver brow, eyes still locking on the dragon to predict its next move. "From a man wielding a girly staff?" Her lips also curved up a little into what seemed like an amused smile, though.

Aeris bit back the retort and decided to play along with the silver Satan in pink. He shrugged.

"From a man wielding a girly staff."

Sephiroth's smile widened.

"Brace yourself. Now it's gonna strike."

**(x)**

"I've never known dragon's meat could taste this delicious." Aeris said in impression as he finished the first slice of his share. Of all the things he thought of as their first meal after being alive again, he had never expected it would be dragon's meat.

Honestly, eating a monster saved for a Chocobo, which looked relatively close to achicken, to him, was uncanny.

"Have you ever tried Bomber Penguins'? Those are pretty tasty stuffs." Sephiroth said as she ate her share of the meat.

Aeris gave her a weird look.

"What?"

Aeris' face became even more weird that it looked quite funny.

"What?"

And even funnier.

Sephiroth frowned. "Are you trying to make me choke to death?"

Aeris stopped that weird look and blinked. The way he functioned was like a computer – blinking meant clearing former action. Beep! Performing weird look action erased, next command: giggling.

Aeris burst out giggling.

"What?" Sephiroth demanded, now looking slightly annoyed.

Aeris shook his head, still giggling. "Oh, nothing, Sephy. Really. It's…" And giggling. "Nothing." And more giggling.

The silver haired-girl glared daggers at him but the more she glared the more the Cetra giggled. In the end the girl decided to stop glaring. "Hn. Stupid Cetra." She snorted and proceeded to finish her first meal.

She wanted out of this silly pink dress of doom as soon as possible. The sooner, the better. And she would deal with the even sillier deal later.

**(x)**

They had eliminated some more monsters along the way out. They didn't have another meal, though. Still, even if Aeris' stomach could stuff more delicious monster's meat in, it wouldn't spare him the discomfort of hearing Sephiroth complain about how her _additional proportions _always, as Sephiroth had put it, annoyingly bounced up and down whenever she made a swift move.

It wasn't his fault that the flower girl wore no bra, was it?

Whatever.

He was glad that finally the ordeal was over. They were now out of the deep, dark and scary albeit resourceful forest.

Aeris looked around, trying to decipher where in the world map she, I mean, he was in. Out of the forest, she, urgh, I mean, he could see lots and lots of steep mountain and up on one of those mountains, beyond a vast plain, he saw an old wooden bridge, which would take them across the mountain to…well, another mountain.

"We're in Wutai, it seems."

Aeris turned around to look at his companion, a little surprised. "You've been here before?"

Sephiroth merely glanced at him. "In case your short term of memory fails you, I was, once upon a time, a Shinra SOLDIER general who happened to be in charge of the little war going on here."

Aeris slapped his forehead for his forgetfulness.

"Ooh, yeah, you're right."

Guess being dead for some time caused him some warps in memory or maybe it was just because the willowy girl standing with him here was something he could hardly relate to the big bad meanie and ever-so smexy general. Wait. The smexy part wasn't supposed to be there.

Anyway, they were in Wutai, which meant he could pay Yuffie a visit there. He didn't know what the ninja's reaction might be seeing him, let alone his current companion. Gender switching wasn't something as ordinary as, in his opinion, crossdressing either.

Talk about crossdressing, he felt a little twinge in the pit of his stomach.

He missed Cloud. He didn't know how the blond was doing right now. His friends might not remember him but he still wanted to see them badly. He wanted to talk to them, asked them how they were doing, what he had missed - even teased them a little bit like the flower girl used to do.

What did Cloud do after the Planet had been saved?

Did he and Tifa get together?

How were Barret and Marlene?

How many materias had Yuffie now got?

Had Cait Sith finally gotten his fortune telling right?

Had Vincent stopped sleeping in the stinking coffin?

Had Cid stopped cursing and swearing?

Had RedXIII managed to get rid of his fleas?

Gods, he missed them very much.

_How long has it been since my death? What if they don't remember me? What if they don't believe my story? _

His head drooped in despair.

"…Don't worry. They will know it's you once you meet them." Came a calm female voice, which sounded strangely sweet and gentle to his ears.

Aeris looked up, slowly meeting the silver haired-girl's deep green eyes. "Sephiroth?"

"There's no way one could forget the horror of the overwhelming pinkness given that you still has that ribbon on."

Aeris' handsome face faulted and then turned into a full-fledged glare. He took out his Princess Guard and tried to whack the girl, who was a foot shorter, on her pretty silver head, meaning to crack open a little of her skull.

Too bad Sephiroth was very quick.

She ducked.

**To be continued…**


	3. Wonder Antenna

Final Fantasy VII © Square-Enix

Standard Disclaimer Applies

**Freaky Resurrection**

**Chapter 3 –** **Wonder Antenna**

Tifa Lockheart was having a headache. Definitely, undeniably and unquestionably, she was upset. And an upset master martial artist even if she was a mere woman was someone anything that possessed a working brain with even the slightest cell of intelligence knew to keep a good distance from; however, this wasn't applied to one absolutely oblivious blond.

No, Cloud Strife wasn't dumb or brain-dead; in fact, he was a little bit on the bright side but he could be incredibly dense to the point of total ignorance sometimes, especially right now that he was obviously greatly moved with brand-new light of shining hope, which, of course, the cause of Tifa's headache at the moment.

You may want to know the reason why. Well, in that case, let us turn the clock back to six hours earlier from now.

/Six hours earlier/

It was Sunday and the infamous Seventh Heaven bar wasn't in business, therefore it was Tifa's day off. It was a beautiful morning and after her full time of eight hours sleep, Tifa was up – bright and full of energy. She was in a great mood and since Cloud decided to take the children out to the amusement park, after breakfast she had all the time to herself.

It was then that Tifa decided she would enjoy her free time upstairs doing her super secret and yet favorite hobby.

Reading hardcore yaoi fanfictions.

Yes, Tifa Lockheart, despite having a long time crush on her childhood friend, was secretly a yaoi fangirl. And now that she was all alone, Tifa was happily clicking and viewing through smutty fictional stories that not-so-surprisingly involved names of people and places she knew. Actually, it was quite exciting to read about her crush being gay and getting intimated with other hot bishies.

Now, don't get her wrong, she loved Cloud. But sadly, the handsome blond had never returned her feeling, for he was still thinking about Aeris all the time despite her being dead for almost a year now. True, they were living together but they never became anything more than best of friends who supported each other. Cloud seemed to prefer keeping his thought about Aeris to himself, though.

Still, Tifa hadn't given up on him yet. The others had suggested she moved on but she just couldn't. One-track in love, that was the way she was, so maybe reading about dear Cloudy getting molested by Vincent or Sephiroth was kind of a twisted form of let out for her and lately, she had become addicted to reading these fanfictions that it became an obsession.

However, secret was never always secret because Cloud Strife had decided to come home early that day and since the only PC was in Cloud's room and Tifa was too absorbed to notice his presence, doom of her beautiful day had arrived in the form of a pair of curious blue eyes.

"…Vincent's face was sad as he looked into the endless depth of azure-blue eyes, knowing with the whole of his heart his own form became trembling the heart -wrenching sorrow of losing someone you loved. But he knew, oh he knew, Cloud had to kill Se-"

Tifa jumped at the voice. She stood up and turned around so that her body was in Cloud's way of seeing the monitor, her hand –behind her back - quickly clicking madly on the back button. "C-Cloud, you're back early!"

"It wasn't as fun as thought." The blond waved it off briefly while trying to sneak a peek at the monitor. "What're you reading, Tifa? Why does it have My and Vincent's name in it?"

"N-nothing! Cloud, why don't you go change first? I'll get you some drinks." Tifa said nervously.

Cloud narrowed his eyes.

There were times that Cloud Strife was very, very dense and ignorant; however, there were also times that he was frighteningly sharp and curious and this was the time Cloud decided to show that latter side of his. His antenna - say it was that one most obvious spike of hair – rose to the highest point where it could receive best signal. His blue eyes twinkled with an ease to explore.

Lightly shoving Tifa to the side, Cloud sat down in front of the PC and started to read through the page. (Tifa was twiddling her fingers as he did this.) It was the page with a list of stories and their summaries. Cloud skimmed through the page quickly but immediately stopped as his antenna caught some signal of interest.

With no hesitation but strong determination, Cloud clicked on the link and started to read.

/Back to the present/

"There! We're about to land!" Cid announced loudly to every friggin' passengers of his before emanating a big puff of smoke from both his mouth and nostrils – looking at the moment like an overly happy old dragon.

Reeve coughed, being the closest one to the toxic gas. He was still very happy, nevertheless.

Yes, everyone was supposed to be happy and if Tifa didn't know the painful truth she would be happy too. Rival in love, they were but Aeris was still her friend – nicest of all she ever had. Not to mention that her great sacrifice had saved the world. Yet Tifa knew the truth, she knew that what Cloud had read was not true because it was, alas, just another Aeris resurrection fanfiction.

She had told him that, excluding what she was reading earlier, but Cloud thought that the fic was a message from god that responded to his daily prayer of undying love for the flower girl and that his Aeris sense, according to his wonder antenna, was ninety-nine point nine-nine percent precise.

Well, Tifa was a girl with a good heart and she didn't want her friends - all of them since after hearing the news from Cloud decided to come see Aeris together – to be disappointed. But just like miserable Cid when deprived of nicotine, poor Tifa, deprived of smutty yaoi, was kinda irked with Cloud's nonstop boast of his wonder antenna that he deemed able to send message to the god.

Angel Tifa and Devil Tifa were fighting on each side of her shoulders about whether she should final heaven the daylight out of the blond or not. And their heated bickering was giving her a bad headache.

It was a matter of time before the girl lost her temper and scared away even the little devil on her shoulder. Poor, poor Cloud.

**(x)**

It was almost 3 in the afternoon when the two genderbent people reached the town of Wutai. And to Aeris' great surprise, she, I mean, he saw the airship he remembered seeing at Junon, parking on the nearby grassland area there.

"This is…Shinra's airship." He said wistfully, remembering how the flower girl wanted to be up there and how a certain blond bodyguard promised her he would take her up one day…

Sephiroth snorted.

She knew the airship wasn't Shinra's possession at the moment. She remembered how her male self's beauty sleep in the Northern Crater was rudely disturbed by the noisy engine sound of that stupid airship. (Sephiroth was a very light sleeper, mind you.) Well, that was another story now.

Still, it was none of her business to tell the braided man whose airship it was.

"Hurry up. I don't plan to stay in this cursed pinkness forever. Nor do I plan to permanently lend you my attire."

Aeris sighed and put his hands on his hips to indicate his slight irritation. "Oh, sorry if it's cursed. It's not like _we _have a choice, have we? I don't want to stay in _your _attire forever either."

"I thought someone sang and danced in worship of its sexiness."

"That's _my _sexiness, if you'd correctly recall." Aeris retorted, smiling.

"Your sexiness?" Sephiroth asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My sexiness." Aeris confirmed firmly with confidence.

"Your sexiness?" Sephiroth asked, raising another brow.

"My sexiness." Aeris confirmed again, not smiling.

"Your sexiness?" Sephiroth asked with a trace of mockery in her voice.

"My sexiness." Aeris confirmed, glaring.

"My sexiness?" Sephiroth asked again.

"Your sexiness!" Aeris confirmed loudly, glaring even harder.

A smug smirk immediately graced the silver haired-girl's lips at her glorious victory over the braided man and Aeris, again, was left to fume with his fatal mistake. And before he could overcome the embarrassment and whacked the girl with his staff, Sephiroth had already stridden into the village.

Swearing to himself, he would successfully hit Sephiroth on that pretty silver head even just once, the black-clad form of one male Aeris Gainsborough hurriedly sauntered after the evil girl.

**(x)**

It was then when they were standing in front of the clothes shop that it finally hit them. Despite the gil they collected during their short journey, they didn't have enough money to even buy a thong. Of course, things in Wutai were more expensive than in Midgar since Lord Godo was Yuffie Kisaragi's father and that spoke for itself a lot.

"…"

"…It seems we'll have to stay like this a little while longer." Aeris stated the obvious. "But come to think of it, it's not that bad, right? Since we're getting along and all."

"…" Sephiroth frowned deeply. Her delicate left hand reached for the hilt of the Masamune but Aeris knew better. Before the girl could unsheathe it and wreck havoc in this now peaceful village, he placed his strong hand on hers and grabbed it in an iron grip. His face was calm and smiling oh-so-friendlily, though.

"Sephy, darling." He crooned sweetly, squeezing the pale hand. "There's no need for tainting this second chance with slaughtering innocence lives, is there?" He squeezed the hand harder, earning a wince from the silver haired-girl.

"Is there?" He asked again in a gentler tone but his grip was so tight it was stopping the girl's blood circulation.

Sephiroth scowled at him, her lips curling into a straight line. In the end, she sighed, knowing Aeris was more than right. If she was granted a second chance, even if it was under a freaky condition, why wouldn't she make it a better one? In her past life, it was drenching with too much blood that it was so difficult to sleep without having a nightmare.

If satisfying this distasteful condition would make the nightmare stop, maybe…it was worth it.

"You're right." She said softly, closing her eyes.

Aeris was surprised at the other's unexpected response. Yet he couldn't help but smiled genuinely. Maybe Sephiroth wasn't really _that_ evil.

"Now, will you let go of my hand already? If you haven't noticed, it's completely gone numb."

"Oops, sorry." Sheepishly grinned the brown haired-man, promptly letting go as he was told.

"Hn." Sephiroth snorted, flipping a silvery lock behind her ear. "So if that_ bloody _option isn't available, what do you suggest?"

In fact, Sephiroth wasn't that open for a suggestion, especially if that suggestion was from a certain genderbent airhead Cetra; however, she was, not that she would admit it out loud, kind of grateful that the Cetra had warned her about living a better second life, so it was fair she listened to the other's opinion.

Aeris; however, giggled as that ingenious part in his brain that had once gotten one Cloud Strife into a memorable experience clicked.

"Well…" He said, grinning, pulling the girl closer and whispered the lovely message into her ear.

**(x)**

It was a while after Cloud's group had reached Wutai and contacted Yuffie about the matter (The ninja was very much happy about their visit and even happier with the latter news.) that they had begun the search for their resurrected friend.

Tifa; however, was still firm on her belief that Aeris was still as dead as a run over stabbed stray dog on a midnight street. Of course, sadly, no one believed her. They, excluding Cloud – since he was seriously focused about finding Aeris with his wonder antenna – thought she was jealous and tried to calm her down by having Yuffie guiding her to one of the best bars there.

And that, an hour later, was where she found two not-so-new pals, namely Reno and Rude, as drinking companions.

"Noooo oooone, nooo ooone hassshh undersshhtood me." Reno slurred, slamming his seventh glass on the counter. "I juussstt looove drinking but I'm nooo alcoholisssmmm."

"…………." Said Rude, empathically. Apparently he was the only sober one at the moment.

"Yesss." Slurred Tifa, downing another glass and slamming the empty vessel on the counter in mimic of Reno. "Nooo ooone undersshhtand usss." She then slammed a fist on the counter. "I'm not jealoussss! I just don't waaant them to be diss…disshappointed!"

"You aren't, Teef. They are s-shooo blinnnd." Said Reno, sniffing drunkenly.

"…………." Offered Rude, understandingly. He was still the only sober one at the moment.

"Yeah." Muttered Tifa, smiling drowsily as the alcohols finally took its effect. "Aerisss ishh my friend…e-even if thee wassshh deaaddd. Shtuupid Cloooud and his shtuupiid antennaaa."

"To hell withCloud and his stupid antenna!" Reno yelled clearly at the top of his lungs, throwing a fist into the air…before slumping back limply into his small chair.

"…………." Agreed Rude, wordlessly. He wasn't sure if he was still sober at the moment.

**To be continued…**


End file.
